Team GB sailing team fail to win medal as engaged couple are DISQUALIFIED in heartbreaking gaffe moments after the start of the race

Team GB were thwarted in their attempt to win their first medal of the day on Thursday when the mixed multi-hull sailing team were disqualified seconds into their medal race. 

John Gimson and Anna Burnet seemed assured of Olympic glory in Marseille Marina but were forced to withdraw from the double-points race after an avoidable gaffe. 

The team were judged to have crossed the starting line before time and could only claim the maximum 22 points – moving them down from third place to fourth. 

Gimson and Burnet – who plan to marry next month – had planned to get onto the podium the day before, but were forced to wait for the postponed race to be rescheduled for Thursday afternoon following a lack of wind. 

Not realising that they had misjudged the start of their race, the couple then failed to pull off the 360 degree turn and restart mandated by the event’s rules. 

John Gimson (left) and Anna Burnet were left heartbroken after being disqualified in their mixed multi-hull medal race

The Team GB pair had been targeting an improvement on their silver medal finish in Tokyo

Gimson comforted his visibly distraught fiancee after the end of their podium hopes in France

Judges were then forced to disqualify the pair, in a decision which left Burnet visibly distraught. 

Instead, France won the race but Italy in second claimed gold on points, with Argentina the silver medal winners and New Zealand finishing third. 

On their debut in the event in Tokyo, Gimson and Burnet won silver and had been keen to improve upon their finish three years ago on the French Riviera. 

Obviously we’d love to win gold here,’ Gimson exclusively told Mail Sport ahead of this week’s contest. 

‘My silver medal lives on the bedside table and is quite a good motivation to wake up too. 

‘Anna keeps hers in the sock drawer.’